Whilst wallcoverings in roll form of the kind above stated have been proposed in a large number of varieties, the present day market is mainly satisfied by five varieties, namely, printed papers, heavily embossed papers, vinyl plastisol coated papers, chemically foamed plastisols on a substrate, and paste-the-wall strippables which are formed from extruded polyethylene foams without a substrate.
The present invention is to be considered as an advantageous substitute for the last mentioned variety, which has a pleasant soft feel and good bulk. However, this variety is seen to have some disadvantages. There is a certain lack of robustness; an undesirable high stretchability which can give rise to pattern matching problems; printing, embossing and texturising limitations; slow drying after pasting and the need for high technological experience to make and handle extruded foams. In fact, the manufacture of extruded foams cannot be regarded within the day-to-day experience of paper convertors and hence an unwanted dependence has to be placed on external manufacturers.
It is with the above points in mind that the present invention has its creation and is seen to offer scope for reduction or elimination of the undesirable aspects of these points, whilst offering potential for lower weight wallcovering without loss of feel and bulk.